Aluminum Tiging

[El Guanche]

Im teaching myself how to weld aluminum on a dynasty 200 dx.
Im welding a 1/4 inch tang to a 1/4 inch plate Ihave the machine settings as follows amp 170, hz 170, balance 75. Is it right? my welds are strong but ugly how do I do the scale pattern do I have to make stops and then move or do I have to change the torch from upright to raked and move and put it upright again...

[bob_e95482]

It takes a lot of practice. Get your aluminum clean. Do a search on welding Al on this site. I have a transformer machine & use pure tungsten. Do a search on which tungsten to use for an inverter machine, & how to ball it.

[Black Wolf]

What Polarity?
What Tungsten?
What Diameter Tungsten?
What Alloy of Aluminum?
What Allow filler metal?
What Diameter filler metal?
What type of shielding gas?
What flow rate of gas?
What method are you using??? Dip or Constant Feed???

Now directly from your post:
What makes you think you have 170hz, North America is 60Hz.
What makes you think balance of 70 is correct? Do you know what it means?
What makes you think that the welding procedure you outlined is anywhere close to what is used in proper GTAW welding?

Lastly:
What made you think you were anywhere close to being ready to self learn how to GTAW anything, let alone Aluminum.????

If you cannot answer all of my questions, you need more education.

Sorry for sounding rude....You really bit off a mouthful with this one. From your questions and comments, you have a slow learning curve and a long road ahead of you.

Good Luck.

Later,
Jason

[Noisy Nova]

What makes you think you have 170hz, North America is 60Hz.

He's got a Dynasty, AC output frequency is adjustable.

[Black Wolf]

My bad. Thanks. I use a really old Syncrowave 250 at work.

[El Guanche]

Tiging aluminum

What Polarity?
What Tungsten? 3/32 pure
What Diameter Tungsten?
What Alloy of Aluminum? 6061
What Allow filler metal? the only one they sell around here.
What Diameter filler metal? 3/32
What type of shielding gas? pure argon
What flow rate of gas? 30 cfm
What method are you using??? Dip or Constant Feed??? tell me about this one

Now directly from your post:
What makes you think you have 170hz, North America is 60Hz. My machine you can control output frecuency
What makes you think balance of 70 is correct? Do you know what it means? yes this is 70 percent penetration 30 % cleaning
What makes you think that the welding procedure you outlined is anywhere close to what is used in proper GTAW welding? Wll i,ve read and seen all tutorials in this site plus I got a peek of a certified welder welding aluminum. I have welded for about 4 to 5 hours and my welds looks arent bad but I would like to get the scale look.

Lastly:
What made you think you were anywhere close to being ready to self learn how to GTAW anything, let alone Aluminum.???? Ive done it already but only need advice on the movement of the torch is it continuous or is it small pauses to do the darn scales thing if you know what I mean. Im a 42 year old tool & die maker. I got to weld aluminum back in 1987 at school and now Im starting again because of a job change.

If you cannot answer all of my questions, you need more education.

Sorry for sounding rude....You really bit off a mouthful with this one. From your questions and comments, you have a slow learning curve and a long road ahead of you.

Good Luck.

Later,
Jason

check this out

[tnjind]

Uh, check what out?

[El Guanche]

tiging aluminum

I answered wolfs questions see if they are alright

[Black Wolf]

It wasn't really a quiz, but now we know where you are starting from, so we can help you out.

You never specified Polarity, but since you are balancing penetration & cleaning, you must be on AC.

Pure Tungsten - have you prepared it with a balled end before welding?

Welding methods:

Dip method: Establish & maintain molten puddle, and travel speed. Filler metal is added in "timed" intervals, dipping the filler metal into the leading edge of the molten puddle. After deposition, filler metal is removed from the puddle, but still kept in the gas shield pocket to prevent contamination.

Continuous Feed Method: Kind of self explanitory. Establish & maintain molten puddle. Filler metal is continously fed into leading edge of molten puddle.

Nozzle inclination is the same with GTAW (Tig) as with GMAW (Mig) in that the nozzle angle should bisect the joint angle. ie a 90 degree fillet weld would have a 45 degree nozzle angle. Nozzle inclination, same thing, inclined slightly in the direction of travel to keep a continous pocket of shielding gas over the molten metal, to prevent contamination while welding AND cooling.

The weld pattern that you are looking for is operator controlled. Without changing nozzle angle or inclination, if you maintain an equal sized molten puddle with each step you take along the weld, you will achieve the pattern you are looking for. Many of the members here use welding positioners, and also "Walk the Cup" while doing fillet welds. I, myself, do not do this as I do not have a GTAW welder at home to play with, and I use a very old "bare bones" welder at work, with a HUGE & Cumbersome back cap. I know how to do it, but have very little experience with it.

Hopefully that helps you out a little.
Best of luck with the job change.

Later,
Jason

[shadetreewelder]

What Polarity?
What Tungsten? 3/32 pure
What Diameter Tungsten?
What Alloy of Aluminum? 6061
What Allow filler metal? the only one they sell around here.
What Diameter filler metal? 3/32
What type of shielding gas? pure argon
What flow rate of gas? 30 cfm

My recommendations:
What Polarity? AC with a balance in the 65-75 range
What Tungsten? 3/32" ceriated (pure is not the best choice for an inverter)
What Alloy of Aluminum? 6061
What Allow filler metal? 4043 (look at the end of the filler rod and it will be stamped there.
What Diameter filler metal? 3/32
What type of shielding gas? pure argon
What flow rate of gas? 20 cfm (30 you are just wasting gas)

The rest is practice.

some pictures will help.

[El Guanche]

Thank you guys,

[welder_one]

i would also like to add that on an inverter machine, the tungsten doesnt need to be balled on the end. it needs to be ground to a point much like you were using dc on steel.

[Black Wolf]

On an inverter machine, the tungsten needs to be ground to a point much like you were using dc on steel.

I'll have to give that a try sometime Stan. I used Pure Tungsten with a balled end with a Lincoln Square Wave Tig 175, and a PrecisionTig 225 on AC with excellent results. The salesman from the LWS came by the shop with the regional Lincoln Electric Canada rep. when we bought the PT225, they even set it up for us so we could keep working. The Lincoln rep never once said to use Pure Tungsten on AC with a sharpened end.

Last time I checked, the Pure Tungsten forms a balled up end when it heats up anyway.

If I get to do Aluminum with an inverter again, I'll give it a try.

Later,
Jason

[2much2do]

I'll have to give that a try sometime Stan. I used Pure Tungsten with a balled end with a Lincoln Square Wave Tig 175, and a PrecisionTig 225 on AC with excellent results. The salesman from the LWS came by the shop with the regional Lincoln Electric Canada rep. when we bought the PT225, they even set it up for us so we could keep working. The Lincoln rep never once said to use Pure Tungsten on AC with a sharpened end.

Last time I checked, the Pure Tungsten forms a balled up end when it heats up anyway.

If I get to do Aluminum with an inverter again, I'll give it a try.

Later,
Jason

I use a square wave Tig 175 at work. I got decent results with a pointed 3/32 pure tungsten. At least as good as I'm gonna get given my limited GTAW experience. I tried twice, The first time was repairing a cracked trim bracket for a co-worker when he crashed his crotch rocket. The secong time was on some 1/16 (I think) AL scrap, practicing for a repair to a fiberglass truck lid frame. The only way I could keep a puddle, It would burn through after a few seconds. Any info would be greatly appreciated. The frame I have to weld is about 1/16 thick.

[FusionKing]

Attention: cave men

If you old schoolers would try using lanthanated or ceriated and sharpen it on those square-wave machines you just might like the results.
I have went to the same style on everything now whether it be engine drive, transformer or inverter. Just start using the balance knob.
I'm currently using gold band lanthanated and when that is used up will go to the blue.
Pure is outdated pretty much for any purpose even tho many still cling to it it is mainly because they are reluctant to try new things as it is still working for them. I've yet to see someone say that they are going back to pure but I am certain there are a few out there.